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Enterprise SaaS Demand Generation in 2021
How Not To Piss Off Prospects
I checked. In the past week, I received over 200 demand generation outreaches (emails, LinkedIn requests, webinar invites, phone calls). There were 152 emails, 25 of which were personalized. There were 18 LinkedIn connection requests. Only one didn’t try and sell me something on first contact. I was invited to 23 webinars — none of which I attended. There were 14 calls from unknown numbers that I didn’t even bother to answer A lot of companies spent a lot of money to connect with me and got zero results. Demand generation in 2021 is tough. Vendors need to find a way not to piss off their prospects so much.
A few years ago Don Welch, the CIO at Penn State University, penned a great article titled “An Open Letter to Vendors”. Don is the ideal target for many SaaS companies. The article gave great advice about what not to do and what works for him.
What Not To Do
Don’t Send E-Mails
“Don’t bother with e-mails. If it looks like a sales e-mail I delete it without reading it. If what shows in the preview bar does catch my eye, it is for the…